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the linen prep... part 2

So after drying on the line I stretched it again on the temporary stretchers. Temporary as they actually are just a tiny bit short on one edge, so that I can maximise the area prepped for later stretching onto slightly smaller bars..

I found the stretching pretty difficult as the fabric seem to be stiff and ungiving, even brittle as a result of the previous layers of size still present.

It turned out better than before, but still not the flat, taught surface I'm after. So I decided to gesso the thing as suggested by Paul Hutchinson - a master of all things art.

This is what the first layer of gesso looks like now - and the outcome seems a lot more positive than the previous try, but it's early days still. I do seem to notice the linen actually drying tighter - and not relaxing as before when drying. So holding thumbs here.

It's surely taking a LOT longer to do than I anticipated and it's not the end yet.. will I do it again? Too early to say ;-)

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